(1) Field of the Invention:
This clamping device relates to a door or panel fastener. It is simple in design, easy to mount on the panel door because it only requries a single round hole in the door. It is less expensive to make and install. After the latch has been turned in latching position, it can be drawn up for a firm engagement by compressing a spring to a solid condition which insures beyond doubt the firmness of latching, which is a great advantage compared to other, expensive conventional latches. It does not need welding, riveting, or bolting to the door. Only a round hole in the door is required to be drilled. When the clamping device is installed in the hole in the door, it has only a small part, which is the L shape member of the latch, extending into the inside of the door. This feature makes the device adaptable to be used to lock doors in pneumatic systems or pipes to satisfy the sanitation conditions required in food or pharmaceutical conveying systems where inspection and chuck doors are required. When the conveying tube system becomes chucked because of a fault with the system, which often happens--the operator or maintenance person must quickly open the door to relieve the chucking condition. This latching invention is sanitary and can be opened quickly. The parts of this invention are simple stock or shelf parts available cheaply everywhere. Many designers will use it because of its merits and advantages, which can be summed up as: simplicity, low cost, sanitariness, easy mounting when one hole is drilled in the door, ease of operation, and reliability because it latches firmly when the spring is compressed as a solid. Also, except for the L shape latch part, the spring, and the pins which are made of steel or aluminum alloys, all other parts can be made of any convenient material, including plastics in order to further reduce costs and to give it the attractive colors available in plastic. When the housing of the device is made from plastics, all the features of the housing are made at one time as the part is being molded.
(2) Background Art:
There are many different designs of door latches in the market which are lacking in sanitation requirements; they are also expensive to mount--using welds, rivets, or other elaborate ways of mounting; and most of the L shaped conventional latches are made of expensive parts which require machining, such as threads in metallic parts. Today, do-it-yourself and cost reduction concepts in design and manufacturing cannot be attained with conventional door latches. For these reasons new designs and new actions are needed to fulfill today's requirements. My invention--which is simple, cheap to make and install, and sanitary for food industries--is a door latch which many designers are looking for.